Brown Butter Lucuma Bars

Brown butter lucuma bars taste exotic yet familiar at the same time. Bake the lucuma bars when you want to impress your foodie friends while still satisfying those with less adventurous palates. Lucuma is a fruit most commonly found in Ecuador, Peru, and Chile with a pulp that has a texture like sweet potato or pumpkin and a flavor that some describe as maple-like (although I find the taste to be more of a cross between persimmon and plum).

If you’re in the U.S. and you’ve had lucuma, it was most likely a powdered form of lucama that was used to flavor ice cream (if you are a raw foodist, you may have also used the powder as a sweetener). In fact, I heard of lucuma for the first time when my friends Ian and Gabi mentioned that my candy cap mushrooms (also considered to have a maple flavor) reminded them of lucuma ice cream they had sampled. While lucuma powder has its place (I’ll be writing about its use in frosting soon), lucuma pulp is also a wonderful ingredient to work with. If you are lucky enough to live near an international or Latin grocery store, you should be able to find lucuma pulp in the freezer case. Simply defrost the lucuma pulp and use it in place of pumpkin or sweet potato in your favorite dessert recipes. I went with lucuma bars, but lucuma pie is now on my to-try list.

These brown butter lucuma bars are a special treat – decadent, subtly sweet (like Thanksgiving sweet potato casserole), and basically irresistible. Sadly, I know some of you won’t be able to try them because lucuma may not be available in your area. If you like the concept but can’t find lucuma, this same recipe can be made with sweet potato, pumpkin, or persimmon pulp.

I am totally a cupcake love but these bars loook so good! I came across your site on bloglovin and knew I had to check it out when it had “cupcake” in the title! I just started a blog today about cooking, wedding planning, book reviews and so much more! I hope you will check it out and follow if you like! itsjustcalledspicy.blogspot.com

I know, I know, you are getting worried about how you will remember to come back and see all of my latest posts. You can have the latest and greatest Cupcake Project creations come straight to your email! Sign up here!